The overall objective of this study is to present a statistical method for analyzing mortality data that could, if necessary, trigger an alert. Indeed, given the significant variability in daily death counts at the municipal level, identifying unusual events based solely on descriptive analysis is difficult and must be supplemented by the use of an appropriate statistical tool. Such a tool must enable the rapid identification of any unusual increase in the number of deaths and generate a statistical alert. The only data available in the short term to implement such a system are quantitative data corresponding to deaths recorded in municipal civil registry offices and transmitted electronically to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). The specific objectives are, on the one hand, to assess whether such a tool is capable of detecting the excess mortality that occurred in the wake of the August 2003 heat wave and, on the other hand, to evaluate its responsiveness to the increase in deaths. We